Artist Tiya Caniel is a self-taught, mixed media creative. She presently has pieces exhibited at the VAPA Center in Uptown Charlotte, a mural and select art on display at HOMEplxce (a consulting and retreat center), and a public mural in York, SC. She currently sits on the boards of two arts organizations: Black Artist Forward and QC Family Tree.
Previously, Caniel has participated in multiple group and solo shows. Additionally, she co-curated a two-location exhibition for Juneteenth alongside female artist Teresa Bone. Also, she completed the 2024 Culture Bearer Residency offered by QC Family Tree. During her residency, she was able to contribute to a collaborative showcase alongside Charlotte-based creatives Ashley Nickens, Dionna Bright, and Joseph Quisol that highlighted art foregrounding social justice and activism.
A Lifetime of Artistry
Her present professional accomplishments are the fruit of years of creative expression stretching as far back as toddlerhood when she teetered around the house, drawing on the walls. For a brief period, her family lived close to DC. During that time, they made regular forays into the city to visit the Smithsonian. This, along with creative success at school, fueled Caniel to start a clothing line in her late twenties that featured her art.
Although Caniel lives in and mostly grew up in Harmony, NC, about an hour north of the Queen City, she deepened her ties to Charlotte during her journey to become a yoga and meditation teacher in 2016. As she took classes in the city, she was able to connect with other Black yoga instructors and creatives. Despite the fact that Charlotte isn’t her hometown, it nevertheless became a hub for Caniel’s spiritual and artistic growth.
As a result, when she shuttered her clothing line business, Caniel was able to secure studio space at the VAPA. Thus began a different creative outlet.
Liberation and Connection
Artist Tiya Caniel works in a variety of mediums, including acrylic, watercolor, collage, photography, textiles, wood, printmaking, and paper. Her work ranges from abstract color blocks, to geometric abstractions, striking collages, nature prints, and more. Although some pieces are quite different in style, they are united by their creator’s intent. “My hope is that my artwork incites joy, curiosity, and wonder in others,” says Caniel.
Inspired by Black liberation, joy, cultivating community, ancestral veneration, love for nature, and yogic philosophy, Caniel foregrounds play, experimentation, and joy as she creates. She engages with her art almost daily. Typically, she moves seamlessly among multiple pieces throughout the day—or even within the same hour.
She finds that her process and the state of flow it fosters is a conduit for connecting—to herself, to the universe, to personal and social liberation.
Caniel’s online gallery can be found at www.lovetiyacaniel.com.
